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35 Years Ago Today

"The Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon seems to be an inhumane attempt to tax the body beyond all comprehension and award the survivor – if any – with a trophy," wrote Dick Fishback in the Honolulu Advertiser on Friday, February 10, 1978.

by Kevin Mackinnon

When Fishback learned that the event consisted of a 2.4-mile rough water, open ocean swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26-mile, 385-yard marathon run, he figured the race would involve one of these challenges a day.

"Nope," he quoted Navy Commander John Collins in the paper. "We’ll do ‘em all together, the swim first, the bike ride second and the run last … all of ‘em on Feb. 18."

Clips from the Honolulu Advertister, Feb. 10, 1978

On this day, 35 years ago, 15 competitors, including Collins, came to the shores of Waikiki beach in Honolulu to take on the IRONMAN challenge. Prior to racing, each received three sheets of paper listing a few rules and a course description. Hand-written on the last page was this exhortation: "Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life!"

Judy Collins, who originally planned to participate in the inaugural event, was forced to withdraw just days before. John Collins and 11 others finished the entire course. Gordon Haller, a taxi cab driver and fitness enthusiast, crossed the finish line first in 11 hours, 46 minutes and 40 seconds to become the "original" Ironman. Collins finished the race in a little over 17 hours.

Archie Hapai led the group out of the water, followed by John Dunbar, who finished the bike with a 13-minute lead over Gordon Haller.

Haller was a faster marathon runner, but his 3:30 marathon split included numerous rubdowns from his support crew to fight the cramping that stopped him at various stages of the run. He caught Dunbar at 17, 20 and 21 miles, but had "rubdown and rest stops at the 17- and 20-mile marks, allowing Dunbar to stay with him, then finally went ahead to stay at 21."

Haller would cruise away over those last five miles to firmly place himself in IRONMAN history. Dunbar finished second, ahead of Dave Orlowski, who was inspired to return to full-distance racing while standing on the stage in Kona to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that first race and has competed in numerous races since.

Clips from the Honolulu Advertister, Feb. 19, 1978

Original IRONMAN Finishers:

Gordon Haller 11:46:40

John Dunbar 12:20:27

Dave Orlowski 13:59:13

Ian D. Emberson 14:03:25

Sterling F. Lewis 14:04:35

Tom Knoll 14:45:11

Henry Forrest 15:30:14

Frank Day 16:38:31

John Collins 17:00:38

Archie Hapai 17:24:22

Dan Hendrickson 20:03:28

12. Harold Irving 21:00:38

Fishback ended his story with line that truly embodies our sport. Considering two weeks before he figured the event would need to be run over a three-day period, he realized that what he’d seen on February 18th, 1978 was proof that limits were meant to be stretched.

"If ever there was a case of mind over matter," he wrote, "it was tried yesterday."

Follow @IronmanTri on twitter throughout the day to enjoy our re-enactment of the first IRONMAN event starting with the swim start at 7:19 local time in Honolulu.